My favorite views from above were...
-Us taking a group picture in the capsule and having people in other capsules laugh at us
-How the buildings stretched on across the island for what seemed like eternity
-How a little mosque was nestled between the city sky scrapers
-Dozens and dozens of boats and barges out in the harbor, as Singapore is one of the world's largest ports
-The construction site for Singapore's first casino, which has already generated millions of dollars of revenue for Singapore, and it is not even built yet!
-A floating soccer field. Yes, a soccer field extended out into the bay, with stadium seating right on the shore!
-and of course, Zach Tribble filming a hilarious video of himself high above Singapore to send to his mom :)
After our "Flight" as they call it, Caroline and I split off from the group to go find the pool where we will be training while we are in Singapore. The pool is at the Anglo-Chinese School, and the club we are training with is called SwimFast Aquatic Club. We took a taxi to the pool, and on our way, we learned that all of the schools in Singapore are segregated (girls only and boys only), the zig zag markings on the roads mean that no cars can stop there (these road markings are unique only to Singapore), and the curbs along the roads are painted with black and white strips for decoration only. Imagine that in America! hahahaha!
After seeing the pool today, I am very much at ease and very excited to start training again! The pool is located in a beautiful and safe area, and the school is absolutely gorgeous! The pool is long course, and it is outdoors!! Hopefully the water is not too hot. Also, the locker rooms are very big, but there is no toilet paper! I guess they figure since you're already wet... (Singapore is a very clean country, and the citizens work very hard to keep it that way- only hot air hand dryers are available in public bathrooms, napkins simply do not exist in Singapore, and I guess there is no toilet paper in the swimming bathrooms because it would be too messy).
The head coach was not at the pool, but Caroline and I talked to the assistant coach, and we start our first practice tomorrow morning! We are supposed to have equipment, but we did not have room to bring ours. The coach thought it was funny that we left our things in America... oops. After seeing the pool, Caroline and I tested out the bus route that we will be taking back to campus. It took us an hour and a half to get back- we have to take two different city buses to get back to campus, and it also involves quite a bit of walking and waiting at the bus stops. Hopefully it won't take as long on the weekday mornings or we won't get to class on time!
Later this evening, we all went out to The Village at Holland Avenue. I went to a trendy clothing store and bought two tank tops. Hooray for new clothes!!! The tags were all in Chinese, so I had no idea what all of the sizes were! Caroline, Hannah, and I also hunted down a Mexican restaurant and shared some chips and guacamole, yum!
Tomorrow is a Singapore National holiday called Vesak Day. It is a religious holiday for the Buddhists, and it starts with chanting of the sutras by Buddhist monks inside the temples. The chanting will continue all night long. Vesak Day commemorates that enlightenment of the Buddha and his entry into Nirvana (liberation of earthly passions and desires). Activities on Vesak Day by the religious include giving alms to the poor, the bathing of the Buddha's statue, the release of captive animals (especially caged birds), and mass candlelight processions. Tomorrow, I am planning on going to Chinatown, where there are many Buddhist temples, to see what Vesak Day is all about!
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